OSIRIS-REx photographed a close-up of the Osprey area on asteroid Bennu

OSIRIS-REx photographed a close-up of the Osprey area on asteroid Bennu
OSIRIS-REx photographed a close-up of the Osprey area on asteroid Bennu
Anonim

The interplanetary station OSIRIS-REx received the most detailed image of the "Osprey" area in the equatorial part of the asteroid Bennu, which is considered a reserve site for taking soil samples from the asteroid. This was done during a recent close flyby of the apparatus over the area, according to the mission's website.

The main purpose of the automatic interplanetary station OSIRIS-REx is to obtain a soil sample from the near-Earth asteroid of class B (101955) Bennu and its delivery to Earth. Further study of the soil in laboratory conditions will allow you to learn more about the composition of the protosolar nebula and the differences between different types of asteroids. It is expected that on October 20, 2020, the station will try to take soil from the "Nightingale" area, which is located inside a 70-meter young crater and has an extremely low albedo. The “Skopa” area, 16 meters wide, was designated as a reserve site. It sits inside a 20-meter crater north of Bennu's equator and may contain carbon-rich material.

On May 26, 2020, OSIRIS-REx left a one-kilometer orbit around Bennu, after which it made the closest flyby over the Osprey, being 250 meters from the surface of the asteroid. The purpose of the flight was to compile a detailed map of the site, which will help scientists estimate the size of soil particles and compile a catalog of images necessary for the autonomous operation of the station's navigation system in case scientists decide to try to take soil from the Skopa. In addition, the device studied the surface of the asteroid during the flight using onboard spectrometers.

The flyby resulted in a mosaic image of the Osprey, composed of 347 individual images taken by the PolyCam camera, which is the most detailed to date. Ground particles up to five millimeters in size can be discerned in the image. The sampling site is located just above the dark spot in the center of the crater, at the bottom of the mosaic. The long light boulder to the left of the dark spot, called the Owl (Strix Saxum), has a length of 5.2 meters.

Image
Image

It is worth noting that during the flyby, the station used a high-power HELT laser transmitter associated with the lidar, as another transmitter experienced a malfunction during the first flight over the Osprey, which resulted in poor quality images of the asteroid's surface. OSIRIS-REx is expected to leave orbit around Bennu in the middle of next year and deliver the capsule to Earth at the end of September 2023.

OSIRIS-REx is not the only spacecraft to deliver soil from an asteroid to Earth. At present, the Hayabusa-2 station is flying to our planet, which carries a capsule with soil collected from the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu.

Recommended: